The present invention relates to the product packing industry and, more particularly, to the field of packing, handling, and shipping products.
In the produce industry, for example, numerous schemes have been developed over the years for packing produce for shipment purposes which greatly reduce damage to or bruising of the produce or other products in the handling and shipping processes. Examples of these products or produce may be apples, pears, peaches, oranges, and grapefruits which can be easily bruised, smashed, or inflicted with other types of damaged by the packing and shipping processes. With such fragile items as fresh produce, the requirements of carefully packing and handling can slow down the production process considerably.
Various shock absorbing packaging techniques have been used for fresh produce such as packing the produce in foam boxes or foam wrap, adding plastic bubble-wrap to a box or package, and adding a large number of foam particles or chunks of foam to a box or package after the produce has been placed in the box. Other attempts to reduce or prevent damage have included foam wrapping or padding for individual pieces of produce as well as boxes, cartons, crates, or other containers of a plurality of pieces of produce. These prior techniques, however, have numerous drawbacks. For example, foam and plastic do not have very good environmentally friendly traits, e.g., often not readily recyclable. Also, some of these techniques can slow down the packaging process. Further, using the chunks of foam, for example, can be messy for both the company packing the produce and for the person or company receiving the produce when the produce is unpacked and can raise environmental concerns.
In view of the foregoing background, the present invention advantageously provides an apparatus and methods for producing shock and moisture absorbing pads at a relatively high speed for use in readily packing products which can be damaged in the packing and shipping processes. The present invention also advantageously provides an apparatus and method for producing shock and moisture absorbing pads which take use waster or other materials from another manufacturing process to enable the manufacturers to derive benefit from these what otherwise would be waste materials. The present invention yet also advantageously provides an apparatus and methods for producing shock and moisture absorbing pads which allow easy packing of products during a packing process. The present invention additionally provides an apparatus and methods for producing shock and moisture absorbing pads which are relatively inexpensive, are environmentally friendly, and are quite effective in protecting products during shipment. The present invention further provides an apparatus and methods for producing shock and moisture absorbing pads which can utilize existing stock, waste product, or other debris from a packing company, as well as various types of debris, to form core or core material for each pad.
More particularly, an apparatus of the present invention preferably includes a waste material grinder positioned to grind the relatively large particle waste material into relatively much smaller particles, a ground waste core material feeder positioned downstream from the waste material grinder to feed ground waste core material downstream, a core pad former positioned downstream from the ground waste core material feeder to form the core material into a plurality of individual core pads, a core pad encaser positioned downstream from the core pad former to encase the plurality of individual core pads with a selected sheet of material to thereby form a sheet of a plurality of shock and moisture absorbing pads, and a pad separator positioned downstream the pad sheet conveyor to separate the sheet into a plurality of individual shock and moisture absorbing pads.
A shock and moisture absorbing pad is also provided according to the present invention. The pad preferably includes a core pad formed from a particulate material, an elongate lower sheet underlying the core pad, an elongate upper sheet overlying the core pad, and an adhesive material contacting each of the upper and lower sheets. The particulate material of the pad preferably includes at least one of the following: super absorbency material, fluff, elastic, polymeric material, and glue. Also, the upper and lower sheets of the pad preferably include paper.
A method of forming a plurality of shock and moisture absorbing pads is additionally provided according to the present invention. The method preferably includes grinding relatively large particle waste material into relatively much smaller waste material, forming the ground waste material into a plurality of individual core pads, encasing the plurality of individual core pads with a selected sheet of material to thereby form a sheet of a plurality of shock and moisture absorbing pads, and separating the sheet into a plurality of individual shock and moisture absorbing pads.
A method of using a shock and moisture absorbing pad is further provided and preferably includes positioning a shock and moisture absorbing pad in a container, positioning at least one product on the shock and moisture absorbing pad so that the at least one product abuttingly contacts the shock and moisture absorbing pad, and absorbing moisture from the at least one product by the shock and moisture absorbing pad.